For my two weeks of free time, my mother flew into Hamburg where we rented a car and hit the road to travel 3500 kilometers. We saw much of Germany, along with a bit of Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic, but most importantly we had so much fun and laughed till we ached.
Enjoying the Sun in the Swiss Alps
In Brandenburg, a region in eastern Germany I attended the German IFYE Conference and met up with my host father, Stefan. He was an IFYE to Montana and New Hampshire in 1998. Stefan and his wife, Kerstin have two children, Julia (3 ½ years old) and Theo (6 mo. old). They live just outside Rothenburg, Saxony on the border of Poland. Not long after learning how to “pilz suchen,” or pick wild mushrooms, Stefan and I traveled south across the Czech Republic and Slovakia to Hungary.
Hungarian Fleckvei
In the Balaton region of southwest Hungary we toured agricultural operations and attended the University of Kaposvar’s Animal Science Days with academics and agriculturalists from Saxon, Germany for four days. After riding on the bus from 3:00am to 2:00pm, we heartily enjoyed a Hungarian meal at Hubertus-Hof, a restaurant this is only part of the operation that includes a hotel for hunters and a herd of 400 Red Angus cattle. A young man stood guard over the herd 24/7 to ensure they were not stolen. Our hotel was further south in the countryside of rolling hills near Kaposvar.
As part of the University of Kaposvar’s International Animal Science Days, we attended the symposium about Animal Husbandry on Pasture. The six topics of research discussed included wild game meat production, geese production and horse meat production. We then toured the University’s Wild Game Center where they breed red deer, wild hogs and other animals for research and meat production. After walking through downtown Kaposvar, we enjoyed a Gala Dinner with the other academics and agriculturalists from Croatia, Italy, Slovakia and others.
Hungarian Livestock Show Opening Ceremony
The next day was spent at the Kaposvar livestock show. This resembled the National Western Stock Show in Denver, except on a much smaller scale. After attending the opening ceremony and watching one cattle show that was a bit difficult to understand in Hungarian, we explored the show grounds. Vendors of all sorts were present alongside the cattle, sheep and hogs. The overall size of all the livestock was smaller than in Germany and the US. Hereford, Red Angus and Fleckvieh cattle were prevalent. Another interesting difference is that in Hungary, as in Germany and most of Europe, bull calves are not castrated. We visited a Hereford cattle herd grazing and a 1000 head feedlot. When they are 600 kilos or 1320 lbs, the cattle are exported to Germany to be slaughtered. Hungary was a beautiful land with friendly people and terrific summer-like weather. Too bad we couldn’t bring the weather back with us!
Upon returning to Saxony, the rain has not stopped – in just over three days 125 liters per square meter of rain has fallen. This equates to five inches. The region has received the same amount of rain in the last three days that is normally seen in three months. The Neisse River that flows north to the Baltic Sea along the border of Poland has flooded along with every lake, creek and ditch. This August the Neisse also flooded because of heavy rains and a broken dike in Poland. Today fields where winter wheat was to be planted this week now look like lakes. Silage balls are floating away. All emergency services are working to contain the water, to prevent damaged houses but as we took a detour to avoid a closed road, we saw many houses with sandbags on the doors, and a sea of water in their yards. One had clothes still hanging on the line. It seems last night the water reached its highest point, as the river has receded this morning, but a light rain continues to fall. Sure glad we are on a bit of a highpoint!
Neisse River, from Germany looking across to Poland.
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